Copper In My Chromium Tank

Question:

How can I remove copper from my chromium-plating tank? A. J.

Answer:

The best way of doing this is to try to reduce the amount of copper that is being introduced into the plating tank. If this is not feasible, there a few routes you can take. One is to remove a portion of the chromium-plating solution and then bring the remainder of the solution back to specifications by adding water, chromic and sulfuric acid. The major problem with this classic approach is you now have excess plating solution that must be disposed of properly.

A preferable method is to use ion exchange or electrodialysis. These methods are environmentally attractive and reduce the amount of waste material that must be disposed. Vendors of this type of equipment can be found in the Products Finishing Directory & Technology Guide, 2003 edition, under Ion-Exchange Equipment (page 381) and Electrodialysis Equipment (page 358).